I don't know...I have mixed feelings on that. I started in the early sixties and the first saw they gave me was a handlebar Mac...I don't remember the model number but I know that I didn't weigh a lot more than it did. After that I ran mostly 125s . I was working with my uncle and he was a Mac man. We were cutting old growth Redwood in those days and those saws, being torque monsters, were good for that kind of work. A lot of times we'd work a whole day on one tree so a faster saw wouldn't have made a big difference. The old saws were heavy and they were slow...but we didn't really know that because that was normal for those days. The saw spent most of it's time in the wood, you really didn't have to horse it around much compared to the way things are done today.
The newer saws fit better with the type of timber we're cutting today. The trees are smaller as a rule and the saws, out of necessity, are lighter and faster. You spend more time with the saw in your hands...moving from tree to tree or packing in and out. The newer saws don't have the low end grunt that the old red or yellow saws did but they don't really need it most of the time either. Cutting small wood, and to me that's anything less than 60" dbh, calls for high chain speed with enough torque to power out of a light bind if you need to without double kerfing. With today's emphasis on saving out every available foot of wood it seems like a lighter and faster saw gives you more control on special cuts, shaping a hinge, and steering the tree to a good lay. If you're working short ground or if there's a lot of stumps and rocks being able to keep everything in lead and still save out will keep you employed. The faster saws are just better at that.
Now, all that being said....I still like to hear that old heavy iron running. The newer saws, by comparison, sound like an oven timer going off.
But would I want to do today's job, all day and every day, with yesterday's saws? No. You can't be sentimental about the old days and make a living at the same time. I appreciate the guys who restore and run the old iron...they're keeping the special history of our kind alive.
But me? I'll take my 660 or an 880, thanks all the same.
